Just another liberal Catholic introducing herself here...

[MarchDaffodils]

So I guess the title of this post says it all, Hello everybody! As you can see from above I am what I would call a liberal Roman Catholic (think of Stephen Colbert - he's probably our most famous example not directly connected to the church).

I'm here because I love talking to other Catholics and people of other faiths & think I might even be of use sometimes, at least I hope so. I suppose I am really here because my curiosity about the way I and other people think is evergreen.

Oh and just to clarify, my identification as a "liberal" Roman Catholic, anyone who has had even a passing familiarity with religions knows that there is a rainbow of temperaments, schools of thought, etc therein and just to be accurate, I chose to append my religious identification with where abouts on that rainbow I sit - I'm very focused on social justice, environmental and economic. I was "raised by" some extremely brilliant, committed and compassionate Jesuit priests not to mention various nuns and sister of different orders as well - without going too deeply into it, these people put themselves in harm's way in Central and South America.

As a young woman I spent some time in the "wilderness" of doubt - testing my beliefs and not believing for a long time, mostly I think I was just not thinking on that part of life much. However I've recently, kind of out of nowhere, had my faith restored. I essentially just realized that I am a Catholic, in my heart, morally. I have issues with the church but I dare you to show me a Catholic or any other person religious or not who has no disagreements with their creed

Also of possible interest to others, my marriage is an interfaith one and we are both happy. I have a husband who I've been happily together with for 19 years. (OMG! Despite being with him very young that number makes me feel so old!) My husband is Jewish, but was not raised religiously - he always describes himself as Jewish culturally, but spiritually wavers from agnostic to atheist to just indifferent. I feel very lucky to have him.

Anyway, I look forward to making friends of all faiths here, learning a lot and as I said I hope I will be an asset to this community.

 

[Demonslayer]

I have issues with the church but I dare you to show me a Catholic or any other person religious or not who has no disagreements with their creed

Indeed. "Lapsed Catholics" is currently one of the largest Christian denominations.

Also of possible interest to others, my marriage is an interfaith one and we are both happy. I have a husband who I've been happily together with for 19 years. (OMG! Despite being with him very young that number makes me feel so old!) My husband is Jewish, but was not raised religiously - he always describes himself as Jewish culturally, but spiritually wavers from agnostic to atheist to just indifferent. I feel very lucky to have him.

Good for you. I'm a former Catholic married to a non-practicing Jew, also raised non-religiously. I'm atheist, she's indifferent, but we're both very happy after 12 years of marriage. (but we were 33 when we met so I'm likely a lot older than you!

Welcome to the forum

 

[viole]

So I guess the title of this post says it all, Hello everybody! As you can see from above I am what I would call a liberal Roman Catholic (think of Stephen Colbert - he's probably our most famous example not directly connected to the church).

I'm here because I love talking to other Catholics and people of other faiths & think I might even be of use sometimes, at least I hope so. I suppose I am really here because my curiosity about the way I and other people think is evergreen.

Oh and just to clarify, my identification as a "liberal" Roman Catholic, anyone who has had even a passing familiarity with religions knows that there is a rainbow of temperaments, schools of thought, etc therein and just to be accurate, I chose to append my religious identification with where abouts on that rainbow I sit - I'm very focused on social justice, environmental and economic. I was "raised by" some extremely brilliant, committed and compassionate Jesuit priests not to mention various nuns and sister of different orders as well - without going too deeply into it, these people put themselves in harm's way in Central and South America.

As a young woman I spent some time in the "wilderness" of doubt - testing my beliefs and not believing for a long time, mostly I think I was just not thinking on that part of life much. However I've recently, kind of out of nowhere, had my faith restored. I essentially just realized that I am a Catholic, in my heart, morally. I have issues with the church but I dare you to show me a Catholic or any other person religious or not who has no disagreements with their creed

Also of possible interest to others, my marriage is an interfaith one and we are both happy. I have a husband who I've been happily together with for 19 years. (OMG! Despite being with him very young that number makes me feel so old!) My husband is Jewish, but was not raised religiously - he always describes himself as Jewish culturally, but spiritually wavers from agnostic to atheist to just indifferent. I feel very lucky to have him.

Anyway, I look forward to making friends of all faiths here, learning a lot and as I said I hope I will be an asset to this community.

Welcome from a naturalist (i.e. an atheist on steroids)

Ciao

- viole

 

[Tumah]

Ok, I'm married to a Jew too. This is starting to get weird. Is there anyone here not married to a Jew?

 

[MarchDaffodils]

Obvious conclusion? Jews are the most attractive people (just going by my own experience I'd put money on that )

 

[Demonslayer]

Ok, I'm married to a Jew too. This is starting to get weird. Is there anyone here not married to a Jew?

My wife's sister is raising her kids in a conservative temple. I just sat through a bar mitzvah a couple of weekends ago...3 hours, oy vey!

 

[MarchDaffodils]

Welcome from a naturalist (i.e. an atheist on steroids)

Ciao

- viole

Wow! This sounds fascinating - so now I am off to read about your beliefs - "atheist on steriods" I'm going to take a leap and guess all that is not found in nature - all that is not... tangible for lack of a better word - you would not consider a part of... "the world?" Just my guessing before I get to the dictionary here. Thank you for the welcoming, friend.

And the same to all of you, friends!

Maybe we're all just East Coast city folk which is why the high % of Jewish folks to be able to wed in the first place? (My American side is NYC since the 1840s)

 

[MarchDaffodils]

Indeed. "Lapsed Catholics" is currently one of the largest Christian denominations.

I know, right? We know why

 

[Demonslayer]

I know, right? We know why

I think there are different reasons people reject the Catholic Church. For me, I just grew out of the belief in God that was pressed upon me growing up. No sense in calling myself a Catholic just because that's how I was raised, if I don't believe in God, is my opinion.

For someone like my mother who was a very devout Catholic, it was the molestation scandal that drove her away from the church. She still 100% believes in the active, personal God of the Bible and the eventual return of Jesus...but she doesn't go to church anymore because she refuses to give money to the Church until they finally identify and get rid of all the priests who victimized people. You want to see my mother flip, remind her that Cardinal Law is set up with a cushy job in a beautiful Italian basilica and still being handsomely paid by the RCC.

 

[Rival]

Ok, I'm married to a Jew too. This is starting to get weird. Is there anyone here not married to a Jew?

I'm an unmarried virgin, does that count?

 

[MarchDaffodils]

Ok, I'm married to a Jew too. This is starting to get weird. Is there anyone here not married to a Jew?

Tumah,
I've always wondered something about Orthodox Jews which I guess I can ask you here. As an aside, I grew up in and around NYC so I grew up as a young child believing half the world was Catholic and the other half Jewish... obviously

Is there a... "vanilla" or "general" Orthodox Jewish community or does Orthodox mean belonging to the Hasidm or the Lubidavitch (forgive the awful spelling)? As you can guess my husband grew up in what would be called a "reformed" Jewish family so he's no help and we've have quite a few conservative Jewish friends.

Also, my husband loves my spirituality - it was the first time he was exposed to spirituality/religiosity of any kind and he likes it which to me says he yearns for his God... any advice on how to help him get in touch with Jewish spirituality, we are NYC based so if there are groups, that might be a good entry point, IDK, I don't want him to miss out on his religion as he definitely does "feel" God.

 

[Tumah]

I'm an unmarried virgin, does that count?

If this thread is anything to go by, even though it doesn't count now, you've about 75% chance to marry a Jew too.

 

[viole]

Ok, I'm married to a Jew too. This is starting to get weird. Is there anyone here not married to a Jew?

Nope. If Noah was a jew.

Ciao

- viole

 

[Tumah]

Tumah,
I've always wondered something about Orthodox Jews which I guess I can ask you here. As an aside, I grew up in and around NYC so I grew up as a young child believing half the world was Catholic and the other half Jewish... obviously

I didn't know the difference. I thought all non-Jews had statues of the mommy with her baby in their front yards.

Is there a... "vanilla" or "general" Orthodox Jewish community or does Orthodox mean belonging to the Hasidm or the Lubidavitch (forgive the awful spelling)? As you can guess my husband grew up in what would be called a "reformed" Jewish family so he's no help and we've have quite a few conservative Jewish friends.

Orthodox is just the umbrella group under which Hasidim (which itself is an umbrella group under which Lubavitch) falls under. So there's all types really.

Also, my husband loves my spirituality - it was the first time he was exposed to spirituality/religiosity of any kind and he likes it which to me says he yearns for his God... any advice on how to help him get in touch with Jewish spirituality, we are NYC based so if there are groups, that might be a good entry point, IDK, I don't want him to miss out on his religion as he definitely does "feel" God.

Well, if you're looking for Jews, you can't do better than NY.
If you want you can PM me, and explain exactly what you're looking for and I'll see if I can find any connections that might interest you.

 

[MarchDaffodils]

I think there are different reasons people reject the Catholic Church. For me, I just grew out of the belief in God that was pressed upon me growing up. No sense in calling myself a Catholic just because that's how I was raised, if I don't believe in God, is my opinion.

For someone like my mother who was a very devout Catholic, it was the molestation scandal that drove her away from the church. She still 100% believes in the active, personal God of the Bible and the eventual return of Jesus...but she doesn't go to church anymore because she refuses to give money to the Church until they finally identify and get rid of all the priests who victimized people. You want to see my mother flip, remind her that Cardinal Law is set up with a cushy job in a beautiful Italian basilica and still being handsomely paid by the RCC.

Forgive me for being flip about that - here of all places! I fully agree with you - there are multitudinous reasons, but the church can be such a burden when we're in it.

I have a personal connection to the molestation perpetrated by those predators in the church and I won't get myself started on that, it cuts like a hot knife, doesn't it? I was so incredibly lucky that my priests were not cut from that cloth and I cannot fathom the people who are so heartless and do things like impugn the character of the victims. You identified my strongest divergence with the RC church, that's for sure... thank god my priests were rebels... I didn't know at the time, the politics of it all but some of "my" priests were "sanctioned" and I didn't know why and later it came out it was for standing up to the Bishops/Rome against the powerful and for the people predated upon. Some priests I knew personally were "sanctioned" right out of the priesthood... (and this was long before the big breaking news but even before we all knew... my family member was molested as a child on another continent in the 1940s... so this has been an open secret amongst the clergy and some lay Catholics for a long time).

I can only imagine how your mom feels, I always knew growing up, to have it sprung on you late in life must have been terrible. But she's got a whole lot of character - most people just denied it or put it out of their heads, what does she do? If I may inquire.

 

[Tumah]

Nope. If Noah was a jew.

Ciao

- viole

Nope, he wasn't. So judging by the sample population of this thread, 75% of people in the world are married to Jews. 25% are Jewish themselves.

 

[MarchDaffodils]

I didn't know the difference. I thought all non-Jews had statues of the mommy with her baby in their front yards.


Orthodox is just the umbrella group under which Hasidim (which itself is an umbrella group under which Lubavitch) falls under. So there's all types really.


Well, if you're looking for Jews, you can't do better than NY.
If you want you can PM me, and explain exactly what you're looking for and I'll see if I can find any connections that might interest you.

I shall PM you, thank you very much.

 

[Brickjectivity]

Welcome! The rules are posted here. We have separate areas for debate and for asking respectful questions about religions. No cussing, calling people stupid, calling them liars, prosyletizing, being mean, advertising, etc. If you have questions or problems about anything you can confidentially communicate with staff by creating a new thread in Site Feedback, and someone will reply. If you notice a post that breaks a rule please report it by clicking the report button. Have fun!

 

[Tumah]

Welcome! The rules are posted here. We have separate areas for debate and for asking respectful questions about religions. No cussing, calling people stupid, calling them liars, prosyletizing, being mean, advertising, etc. If you have questions or problems about anything you can confidentially communicate with staff by creating a new thread in Site Feedback, and someone will reply. If you notice a post that breaks a rule please report it by clicking the report button. Have fun!

It would have been funnier if you would have left out all the spaces and then did a *gasp* at the end.

 

[MarchDaffodils]

Nope, he wasn't. So judging by the sample population of this thread, 75% of people in the world are married to Jews. 25% are Jewish themselves.

That always feels like a shock, then you remember Issac & Ishmael, etc. Noah and the early Fathers of the Abrahamic religions are considered... what is the term? I know, google is my friend...